Alice in the Country of Sandbox?
by DarkKitten666
Summary: Clumsy Alice once again falls into the clutches of the people of Wond- oh wait. Wrong story. Alice, a young new girl in town, is brought to the park to get familiar with the other kids that live in the area. Her playground adventure is full of bullies and cat poop and sand in her shoes! What is Alice to do? This is an AU
1. Chapter 1

It was spring. A little girl was holding extremely tight to her older sister's hand as they walked to a place that the youngest of the two knew nothing of. The pink blossoms from the trees swirled around them in the wind.

"Alice, you don't have to be so nervous." The older sister chuckled, glancing down at the young girl. She smiled as her little sister glanced up at her with her big, blue eyes. But of course the girl was nervous. A new town and new places. They were going to the park for some fresh air. Perhaps meet new people as well. Make some friends that were in the area.

In the distance, Alice could see the park. It was a decent size with plenty of kids from what she could see. There were swings and a seesaw, a merry-go-round. A jungle gym, a slide, monkey bars, and a tire swing. The five year old clung to her sister's arm. Once the pair was a few yards away from the sandy terrain of the playground, the older sister sat down under a tree and pulled out a book.

"Lorina, can I stay here with you?" Alice asked.

"Don't you want to go play?" Lorina answered, looking over her book at the small girl. She shook her head. "Why not?"

"I want you to read to me." Alice said, sitting as close to her sister as she could. Lorina slightly laughed.

"I'm sorry, Alice, but I doubt you would want me to read you this book. It's so confusing." She smiled and patted her sister's head. "It's about a girl who falls into a strange world."

"Yeah, sounds fine." Alice muttered, not even paying attention. She was attempting to catch a butterfly.

"You have already grown bored of me just telling you what the story is about. How will I keep your attention if I actually read it?" Lorina asked as Alice closed her hands over the butterfly, hoping to have caught it. But she opened her hands to find them empty and scowled, looking around to find the escaped butterfly. "Just go try to make friends in the park." Lorina said, pointing to the play area.

"Fine," Alice groaned, stomping off. Lorina only chuckled before opening to a page in her book and reading.

Alice glanced along the many faces in the park. Two small boys that seemed to be twins were using the seesaw so there was no way she would get to. Perhaps she could just sit out and watch the other kids on the bench? No. There was a kid there too. He used an… umbrella? But the sun was shining… Alice shook her head. Everything seemed to be in use. She glanced at the swings. There were four swings, two were taken by boys and one was a baby swing. That left one swing open for the girl. She decided maybe that could be something to do.

"H-Hello," the girl said shyly to one of the boys. His black hair hung down to his shoulders and as soon as he saw the girl, an evil sparkle could be found within his green eyes. He kicked out his feet to "stop" and kicked sand up into the girl's face. She shielded her eyes from the onslaught of tiny pebbles as the black haired boy laughed at her. The boy that was swinging next to him, in turn, stopped swinging (but did not kick up as much sand).

Alice glared at the boy and he stopped laughing. His swinging buddy, a tall, older blond boy, frowned.

"I don't think that was very nice, Blood." He muttered.

"Shut up, Elliot." The boy called Blood spat. He then shrugged. "I was just having some fun." He then turned to the small, blond girl. "So what do you want?"

"I-I was wondering if I could swing on the swings with you." Elliot's bright blue eyes lit up. Obviously he didn't mind but Blood, on the other hand, pursed his lips.

"Why would I do that?" he asked, sourly. "These are my swings. MINE. Go play someplace else."

"But I want to swing." Alice mumbled sadly, glancing at the swings. Suddenly, the boy pushed her down onto the ground.

"Elliot, hold her down." Blood commanded. The blond boy did so, hesitantly of course.

"Isn't this kinda mean, Blood? What are you going to do to her?" Elliot questioned.

"Girls are icky." Blood answered. "Thus icky things must be done to them. DEE! DUM!" In a matter of seconds the two younger boys that were playing on the seesaw were now front and center of the mean child.

"Yeah, Blood?" the twins asked, looking at him with admiring eyes.

"Go get the cat poop." He laughed. An evil smile spread widely across his face as he stared at the girl that was now struggling on the ground.

"NO! Let me go!" she cried.

"Blood, isn't that mean?" Elliot asked again. "My mom says I should always respect girls."

"Help! Help!" Alice called out.

"What is going on here?" an older kid asked, walking up to the trio. He had jet black hair that, in the right light, was slightly blue and yellowish green eyes. The boy also had a strange scar shaped like a lizard on his neck. He seemed about the same age as Elliot, yet Elliot shirked away from the boy. The blond boy sat back and chuckled nervously, letting Alice go in the process. She quickly squirmed to her feet and hid behind the newcomer.

"Blood! Blood! We got the cat poo-" The twins yelled, running back to the others until they noticed the larger boy glaring at them. The two hid the poop behind their backs.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves. Being mean to—" he paused, hearing something from the other side of the playground.

"GRAY! GRAY, HELP!" someone called out. The boy quickly spun around and ran toward the person calling out colors. Alice looked at the evil boy and his "friends" before running after the other boy. She didn't want to stick around with them.

"Yes, Nightmare. What is it?" The boy asked a pale boy who was sitting on the ground holding his knee. His hair was a sleek, silver color and his eyes were a dull bluish grey.

"Gray! I hurt my knee!" the boy called Nightmare whined. The bluish haired boy that Nightmare called Gray got down to Nightmare's level.

"I need to see it." Gray said, pulling out a random first aid kit. The other boy refused to show him his knee.

"Nooo, it hurts too much."

"I'm going to need to see it if you want a band aid." Gray sighed. The boy reluctantly pulled his hands away to reveal just a pink, irritated patch of skin. It wasn't even bleeding. Gray huffed out a sigh.

"Wait! No! I want a band aid!" Nightmare cried. "I want a Scooby Doo band aid." Gray rolled his eyes before digging into his first aid kit and pulled out a Hello Kitty band aid. "NO! I said Scooby Doo! Not Hello Kitty!"

"Well, I'm out of Scooby Doo so either you get Hello Kitty or you go without."

"I can go without." The child huffed out in anger, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. Gray seemed to chuckle slightly before turning to Alice.

"You, were you- uhm. Were you hurt by those boys?" he asked, pointing back to the swings.

"I-I don't think so." Alice whispered, looking down to check for any cuts.

"Let me have a look," The boy insisted, checking her elbows and knees. After his investigation he found there were no cuts or bruises and determined Alice was perfectly fine. He smiled widely and extended his hand. "I don't think I have introduced myself. I'm Gray."

"My name is Alice." She said, taking his hand and shaking it.

"GRAY!" Nightmare moaned. Gray sighed heavily.

"Sorry, but I gotta go. See ya around!" He yelled out, running after Nightmare who was now heading for the monkey bars. Alice frowned before looking around the park to find someone else to possibly play with. As she looked she found the only other girl in the playground. She smiled slightly before heading towards the square jungle gym. The other girl was perched inside the maze of metal bars. She had extremely curly brown hair and eyes.

"Hi." Alice said to the younger girl. When she noticed Alice was there she pursed her lips and puffed out her cheeks in anger.

"ACE!" the girl screeched. She looked around the park until her eyes landed on a boy on the swings. "ACE!"

Alice looked at the boy swinging on the swing. The blond boy, Elliot, was glaring at the brunet while Blood was busy talking to the twins who were once again on the seesaw. The brunet boy, upon hearing his name, smiled widely and, at the top of the forward swing, jumped out of the seat. Alice watched in awe as the boy seemed to fly for several second before landing flat on his face. However, that did not stop the boy from reporting in to the younger girl. After pulling his face out of the sand he made a stance as if he actually stuck the landing perfectly and ran toward the jungle gym. His deep, reddish brown eyes fixated on Alice.

"Yes, Vivaldi—I mean, my queen?" He asked, not daring to look at the angry girl.

"Get her away from my castle. She is disturbing my tea party." She groaned, puffing out her cheeks.

"I will make sure to get rid of her." Ace said, bending over to pick up a hand full of sand. He flung it right at Alice who screamed at the top of her lungs and shielding her face.

"Don't throw sand, you dumby head!" Vivaldi growled. The boy abruptly stopped. Alice, however, did not want to stick around these seemingly crazy people either and so she turned and ran away. She could still hear the girl yelling at the boy in the distance.

As she ran, however, something snagged her collar that made her stop running. Looking around there was nobody in sight.

"Up here, you idiot." Someone said bitterly. She looked up to find two boys that looked exactly alike playing on the monkey bars. Red hair and brown eyes. One wore a black T-shirt while the other wore a white one. The boy in white was hanging upside down by one of the metal bars while the other boy was sitting on the bars. The boy that was hanging upside down only laughed as he swung back and forth. This, however, seemed to make his twin angry. In an instant, he kicked his brother, knocking him down off of the monkey bars and landing on his head.

"What was that for, Black?!" the boy yelled.

"You annoy me, White." Black shrugged. The boy called White puffed up his cheeks in anger and started pouting before glancing at Alice and smiling.

"Hello~" he chimed. "My name is White."

"That's a weird name." Alice said blankly, staring at the patches of sand stuck in his hair.

"Yeah, well… Your face is weird!" he barked.

"Yeah," laughed Black, "you're either a funny looking boy or a REALLY ugly girl." He sneered.

"You're mean!" Alice yelled.

"Life is mean." He shot back even though he couldn't be over a year older than her. Her eyes filled with tears as she darted away from the two who just shrugged it off.

Alice came to the tire swing. She wiped the tears from her eyes and watched as a boy, seeming to be the same age as her, spun the tire around and around. He had pink hair for some reason and goldish hazel eyes. As the tire swing spun he stepped back and laughed as the kid that was riding the tire swing screamed at the top of his lungs and began to panic. From the blur, Alice could tell he had orangey hair with blond highlights.

"Hilights don't change the fact that you're a ginger!" the pink haired boy squealed with joy. Alice could hear the other boy whimper. It began to slow down enough to the point that Alice could see that the boy had tears falling from his green eyes.

"C-can I play?" Alice asked hesitantly. She hoped that maybe the boy wouldn't want to spin her as fast as he spun the other boy.

"Hehe, Sure!" the kid chuckled, grabbing at the tire to make it stop spinning. As soon as it stopped, the dizzy boy jumped off and staggered away. The pink haired boy looked expectantly at Alice and waited for her to get on. She hesitated. "What? You don't want to ride?" he asked. Within a moment the boy was standing on the tire. "SPIN ME!" he called out. Alice blinked several times before taking the chains into her hands and yanking as hard as she could. The tire just barely spun.

"What was that?" he laughed hysterically. "You're just as weak as Pierce!"

"Don't call me weak!" Alice yelled, pushing the tire. Unfortunately for her, the tire swung back and hit her making her topple over. At this point, the boy nearly fell off the tire because he was laughing so hard. Alice puffed out her cheeks in anger. "I don't want to play with you anymore." She got up and left the boy to play on the tire swing all by himself.

"Is something wrong?" someone asked as Alice stomped past. She paused and looked at the kid. The merry-go-round slowly turned as the boy walked on it like a treadmill, ducking under the metal bars as they came. His pace was just enough to keep from falling behind. This kid was probably the oldest of all the others she had ran into at this park. His reddish brown hair was pulled back into a braid and his teal eyes shimmed from behind his glasses. He pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose and smiled. "You sure look peeved."

"Peeved?" Alice wondered, not knowing the meaning of the word.

"Yeah. You look angry. Something wrong?" He questioned once again.

"Oh, er… yeah. Just some kid on the tire swing was being a big bully." Alice muttered. The other kid shrugged.

"Sounds like Boris to me. He got pink hair?" he asked. Alice only nodded. "He had an accident with the Koolaid." The boy chuckled. "Anyway, I'm Gowland."

"Gowland? What kind of name is that?" Alice slightly giggled. Gowland's grin grew wider at the sound of her laughter.

"It's my last name… What's yours?"

"Liddell." Alice answered, giggling slightly. Gowland raised his eyebrow.

"Liddell?"

"Yeah, but that's my last name. My name is Alice."

"Well I am glad to meetcha. I-"

"Hey MARY. Whatchya doing MARY? Talking to the new girl, MARY?" someone asked snidely. Gowland's eye twitched in irritation. He knew exactly who it was.

"Shut up, Blood!" he roared, glaring at the black-haired boy.

"Hey, Blood. Ya know whats funny? If you put yours and Gowland's name together you get Bloody Mary." Elliot said, walking up behind the shorter boy.

"Shut up, Elliot!" Blood growled, turning to the blond. Gowland's eye twitched even more.

"Your name is Mary?" Alice asked. Gowland couldn't help but explode with rage.

"Shut up! You're all dumby heads! Just go away and leave me alone!" He took a handful of sand and threw it at Blood. "The one girl- ONE GIRL- that didn't know my name and you just HAD to tell her?! I HATE YOU BLOOD DUPRE!"

Alice's mouth fell agape at how fast the boy could be so friendly and then suddenly explode in rage. She could see why he didn't like the name Mary. It's a girl's name. Alice watched as Blood blew a raspberry at Gowland. He snorted with rage and darted toward Blood, who ran away, smiling. It seemed as if playing chase with Gowland was his favorite pastime. She frowned after Elliot turned and left her too. Perhaps she just wasn't supposed to make friends here on the playground. She walked sadly to the bench and sat down. She had a strange feeling that someone was staring at her.

Someone WAS staring at her. Well, more like scowling. His pink eyes were fixated right on Alice. She nearly fell off the bench in fright. He was the first person she ever seen that had pink eyes. She was reminded of those cute bunnies at the pet store. They had pink eyes and white fur. This kid had white hair and pale skin. He held and umbrella to keep the sunlight from touching his fair skin.

"Uh, hello?" She practically asked. The boy frowned and looked away. Alice scooted closer. "What is your name?"

"AH! STAY AWAY FROM ME! GERMS!" the boy screeched. Alice was once more taken aback.

"What do you mean germs?" Alice asked, slightly irritated.

"YOU!" he hissed, moving as close to the edge of the bench as possible. "You are covered in germs and bacteria and viruses! You're trying to give me a cold and the flu and—and the Black Plague!"

"What?" Alice croaked.

"You're dirty and disgusting and mean! Stop making fun of me!" The boy cried out.

"I-I didn't even say anything!" Alice yelled. "I just wanted to get to know you because I like your eyes!" she huffed out in anger and stomped off, leaving the boy surprised. Nobody had ever said that they liked his eyes before.

Alice looked around the playground once more. It seemed she had met everybody now. She didn't really like any of them. They were all… weird. She only wanted to play by herself now. All the equipment was already in use by the weirdos though. Well, all but one. Alice glanced at the towering slide. It had bars going up to an enclosed platform that exited through a swirling slide. She came to the ladder and looked up. As she reached out to take one of the bars, someone grabbed her.

"Hey! Don't go up there!" Elliot said, trying to drag Alice away from the slide. "There is a big bully up there."

"A-a bully?" Alice asked while squirming to break free.

"Yeah. He-he pushed me down the slide and I slid down the entire thing face first." The blond boy said, touching his face and flinching at the memory.

"W-well I don't believe you!" She shouted, breaking free. "If anybody is a bully, it's you!" she turned and ran back to the slide. Elliot only watched her run with an extremely hurt expression on his face. Did she really think he was a bully?

The ladder was now daunting to the girl. What if there was a bully up there? Like the troll that lived under the bridge. There was only one way to find out now. She climbed the ladder to the top of the tower. She blinked into the darkness and found a boy.

"A-are you the bully?" Alice gasped. The boy looked up from what he was doing making it easier for Alice to see his face. He was just a boy, not a troll. He didn't even seem like he could BE a bully. If anything, others would bully him. His long black hair was pulled back into a pony tail and there were glasses perched on his nose. In his hands was a small electrical device, a Gameboy.

"What are you doing up here?" He growled angrily.

"I-I… I wanted to slide." Alice said, pointing to the exit. The boy glanced out and then looked back at Alice. After a brief pause he opened his mouth again.

"Aren't you going to slide then?" he seemed slightly irritated.

"W-well…" She trailed off. "I don't want you to push me down the slide."

"Push you?" the boy asked, pausing his Gameboy and shoving it into his pocket. "Why would I do something as stupid as that?"

"E-Elliot said-"

"Elliot? That guy has some issues with me and I don't know why." The boy muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He said you pushed him." Alice finally got to say.

"Me? Push him?" he slightly snorted with laughter. "No. That was Blood Dupre."

"Blood? But aren't they best friends?" Alice asked, confused.

"Elliot tends to think so but Blood… well… maybe Blood just doesn't know how to treat friends. Who knows? All I know is that he is mean to everybody." The boy shrugged and looked out onto the playground.

"So… you're not a bully?"

"Do I look like a bully?" he pointed out.

"I-I guess not…" Alice muttered, sitting down in a dark corner. "My name is Alice."

"Julius." Alice sighed heavily and pulled up her knees to her chest. Why were all the kids so mean to her? She could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Why did she even bother? "A-are you okay?" Julius asked, noticing the girl crying. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and sniffled. "Uhm, I-…" he trailed off, thinking of something that could possibly cheer the girl up. "D-do you want to, uh, play my Gameboy?" Julius asked, pulling out the Gameboy and holding it out to the girl.

* * *

**This story is nowhere near completed. It was originally going to be a oneshot but after the ideas began to pile up and I was so many words in and nowhere near finished. I have a long way to go on this story so please do be patient.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and I would love if you could review. Please and thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Would you like some coffee, Julius?" Alice asked, holding an imaginary pot of coffee.

"Yeah, sure." Julius grunted holding out his imaginary cup. Julius had no idea how it went from him sitting alone like he normally does to playing house with this girl he had just met. He felt sorry for her. He knew how harsh the kids at the playground could be and all he could do was try to help her. He let her play his Gameboy until the batteries died. Then, somehow, Alice had the bright idea to play house and now she was serving him coffee. When she finished pouring the imaginary liquid he took the invisible cup and pulled it to his lips, sipping at it. His face scrunched up in distaste. "This is horrible."

"Aw, Julius. Why do you have to be so mean?" She asked, frowning. The boy chuckled snidely as he took another sip of the "horrible" coffee. "I don't see why I married you."

Julius started choking. "M-married?! Since when were we married?!" the boy asked, dropping everything (which was really nothing).

"Well obviously you are my husband so of course we are married." Alice laughed. "Now look what you did, you ruined your pants." She pointed to the imaginary stain on his pants. Julius opened his mouth to respond but before he could a rush of air darted past the two. The little grey haired boy named Nightmare was sliding down the slide. Julius scowled and Alice looked down the ladder to, sure enough, find Gray climbing up after Nightmare. The older boy sighed heavily when he reached the top and leaned against the wall.

"Chasing Nightmare around is so tiresome." He breathed. Nightmare's head popped up from the ladder again and he scanned the enclosed space until his grey eyes fell upon Alice.

"What are you doing up here with Julius?" He questioned, climbing up the ladder the rest of the way. Alice was about to answer when he interrupted. "I thought Julius didn't like anybody, why would he let you up here?"

"It's not that I don't like anybody. It's that I don't like YOU." Julius pointed out. "You are annoying."

"I am not annoying!" the little boy snapped. "I am completely, 100% amazingly awesome and cool. And I know you like me because nobody can NOT like me. Right, Gray?"

"Well-…"

"GRAY! You're like my bestest best cousin!" Nightmare shouted. "You're supposed to agree with ME."

"Mom says I should tell the truth." He muttered under his breath.

"What's your name, new girl?" the hyper boy asked.

"Me? My name is Alice."

"Alice is a pretty name…" Gray whispered, blushing slightly.

"Wanna play with me, Alice?" Nightmare asked, looking at Alice with pleading puppy eyes.

"Uh… Sure." Alice said. In a flash, the small boy had jumped at her.

"TAG! You're it!" He shouted before disappearing down the slide. Alice blinked, confused as to what just happened. Gray quickly followed Nightmare down the slide.

"I think he likes you." Julius said bitterly. "Well, have fun playing tag."

"What about you, Julius? Aren't you going to come?" Alice asked. The boy shook his head.

"I'm not good at playing tag and I am completely happy being up here." he muttered pulling out his Gameboy and a fresh set of batteries.

"Okay…" Alice sighed, going over to the slide. "But I will be back later, hubby~" she chimed before descending down after Nightmare and Gray. Julius was blushing slightly before he turned back to his game.

"Where did they go?" Alice asked when she had finally reached the ground. She quickly glanced around the park to find Nightmare heading towards the jungle gym. Forgetting all about the crazy girl that was there, Alice darted after Nightmare. The boy ducked into the jungle gym. He could easily manipulate himself to quickly maneuver out before Vivaldi could do anything. However, Alice was not as quick Nightmare. The strange, brunet boy was waiting for her when she exited.

"Hey there, new girl~" He chimed before grabbing her.

"Ace, bring her here." Vivaldi ordered. Ace did as he was told and brought the girl to the center of the mass of metal bars. "Tie her up. I don't want her leaving." She ordered again, sipping at her 'tea'.

"Sure thing, my queen." He chuckled, pulling out some random rope from his pocket and tying Alice to the metal frame. "You will not escape this knot. It's a boyscout knot. And I am the best boyscout knotter there is!"

"Go away." She ordered Ace. He nodded happily and walked off. Alice struggled, trying to get free of her binds. "We have decided we wanted to have tea with you." The girl said.

"We?" Alice asked.

"Yes. WE." Vivaldi said, slightly irritated. She pointed to the stuffed animals that were also, ironically, tied to the metal structure as if against their will. "WE are having a tea party. YOU are the only other girl on the playground. You should feel honored to be able to have tea with us."

"I wanna go home." Alice whimpered, struggling again.

"Shut up and have some tea." The young girl grumbled. She took another sip from her invisible teacup and looked at Alice. "What is your name?"

"I-I'm Alice."

"Alice?" She asked, looking at the girl. "I don't like it. From now on you shall be… Miss Cookie."

"Miss Cookie? I don't want to be called Miss Cookie!" Alice groaned. "That name is stupid."

"You're stupid. Now shut up." Vivaldi hissed angrily. The small girl then suddenly pulled out a make-up bag. She zipped it open and pulled out a bright red lipstick. "Now let's make you all pretty, Miss Cookie."

"NO!" Alice yelled, squirming more. Suddenly, the rope was loosened and Alice was freed. She quickly used this opportunity to get out of the jungle gym. Luckily the brunet boy, Ace, was nowhere to be found.

"Are you alright?" Gray asked. "I just noticed that you weren't chasing us. Vivaldi got you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine though." Alice mumbled.

"Are you sure? Sometimes Ace can tie those ropes quite tight."

"Does Ace to this a lot?" Alice asked, surprised.

"Well… Vivaldi has wanted to have 'tea' with Nightmare several times before." Gray grimaced. "And Ace doesn't make it easy to save him."

"Hey! What's the hold up? I thought we were playing tag." The young boy questioned.

"Alice was caught by Ace." Gray answered. Nightmare froze and went pale.

"The horror!" he moaned in memory of the times Vivaldi had him come to her tea party. He fell to his knees and curled up into a ball, muttering to himself. Gray sighed.

"Sorry Alice but we can't play tag anymore. Nightmare needs a juice box." The older boy apologized before tending to Nightmare. Alice grumbled before deciding that maybe Julius would still like to play with her. On her way back, though, she found Gowland was spinning the merry-go-round. That alone wouldn't be abnormal but the fact that there was an orange blur and shrieks of the kid that Boris was spinning around, Alice couldn't help but to try to help.

"Gowland!" Alice shouted, trying to get the older boy's attention. He perked up and glanced around until his eyes landed on Alice. He smiled widely.

"Alice!" Gowland laughed, giving the merry-go-round one last push.

"Gowland, stop! You're scaring him!" Alice said, pointing to merry-go-round.

"Scaring him? No, he likes it." Gowland replied, looking slightly confused.

"L-let me off!" the boy cried. Gowland pursed his lips and glanced from the merry-go-round to Alice.

"All right, all right. It's not like it was going to hurt him though." The boy scratched the back of his head before nervously smiling at Alice. "You don't hate me now, right?"

"No, I don't hate you…" The girl mumbled. "You didn't push me down and threaten me with cat poop."

"Did someone do that?!" He asked, surprised. Before Alice could answer, however, the merry-go-round had slowed down just enough for the kid to stumble off. She could tell the boy was dizzy with how he staggered around. Eventually the kid could no longer stand and just fell to the ground. Alice quickly darted to his side to make sure he was okay. His face was pale and (Alice swore) slightly green.

"He looks like he is going to throw up." Alice pointed out.

"No he doesn't. He—" Gowland paused after seeing the boy's face "oh. He does."

"Help me get him out of the sand." Alice said, struggling to drag the boy through the sand. The older boy sighed before getting closer to the boy and crouching with his back to the boy.

"Get him onto my back so I can piggy back him." Alice glanced at Gowland and then the boy she was dragging in the sand.

"That's a good idea." She laughed nervously before helping get the limp bodied boy onto the back of Gowland.

"Well, what are we gonna do with him?" Gowland asked after his part of the plan was executed.

"How about we…" Alice muttered, looking around the park. She glanced at the bench where the pink eyed boy was. "How about the bench?" Gowland only shrugged at the idea.

"ACK! YOU REALLY ARE TRYING TO KILL ME!" The white haired boy shrieked.

"We are not trying to kill you." Alice hissed.

"Yes you are." He huffed. "You are trying to make me sick."

"What Pierce has is not contagious. Now cooties on the other hand, that is contagious." The older boy chuckled, pointing to Alice. "I'm gonna find Gray. Perhaps he would know what to do."

"Cooties?! You have cooties?!" The albino screamed.

"Of course I don't have cooties! Only boys have cooties!" Alice shot back, glaring at Gowland as he ran away. Alice could only fold her arms over her chest and wait for Gowland to come back with Gray. The boy glanced at the sick boy and back at Alice.

"Do you care for Pierce?" he asked.

"His name is Pierce?" Alice asked in return. The boy looked surprised.

"If you didn't know him, then why are you helping him?"

"I… I don't know. I guess I'm just that kind of person." The girl shrugged.

"That kind… of person?" he whispered. Pierce, the passed out boy, began to groan. Alice smiled and stared at him as his green eyes fluttered open. The first thing he saw was Alice.

"Am I in heaven?" was the first thing he asked. Alice giggled.

"No. You're still at the park. You're on the bench." Alice pointed out. He sat up quickly and looked around before catching sight of the white haired boy.

"P-Peter!" he yelped. The albino kid pursed his lips and looked away from the two.

"So your name is Peter? Mine is Alice." she smiled, looking at the boy. Before Peter could say anything ,however, Pierce spoke up.

"Alice? Sounds like an angel's name to me~" he chimed. "You saved me from Boris and Gowland, you must be an angel!"

"Look, Pierce. I am not an angel." she said. "Probably far from it."

"Sounds like something an angel would say!" the orangey haired boy pointed out with excitement. "I want to kiss the angel~"

"AH!" Alice began to shout when Pierce tried to jump from the bench but something had grabbed his collar, choking him so he could not get up.

"Don't you dare." Peter growled darkly. "If she is an angel then she is pure. You are dirty and icky. Don't. Touch. Alice."

"WAH! PETER IS SCARY!" the young, orange haired boy squeaked before escaping his grasp and running away.

"Cooties…" Alice mumbled, curling up into a ball and rocking back and forth. "I'm too young to get cooties."

"Are you okay?" Peter asked, his eyes grew soft. "He didn't touch you with his filthy paws, did he?" Alice suddenly stopped freaking out and blinked.

"He didn't touch me… So I should be fine!" She yelled happily jumping up. "I should probably go find Gowland and Gray and tell them Pierce is alright." The girl then skipped off, leaving Peter alone.

"Okay…" he sighed sadly.

Gowland and Gray were not hard to find. Although, it did not look like Gowland was fetching the other boy to help Pierce. The two were sitting in the grass playing chess. Nightmare wasn't too far away as he sucked at the straw of his apple juice.

"Oh, Hiya Alice!" Gowland said when he noticed Alice come up. Gray was much too focused on the game to notice the approaching girl.

"Pierce is fine, thanks for asking." The girl muttered.

"Sorry 'bout that." He laughed, scratching the back of his head nervously. "But Gray wanted to play chess with someone." He pointed out, trying to shift the blame to the other kid. Gray, however did not notice Gowland had just said his name. The boy cautiously moved one of the pieces on the board and glanced at Gowland.

"Your tur- Hi Alice." the boy said, noticing the girl.

"Hey," she replied. "How is Nightmare?"

"He is fine." Gray muttered, watching Gowland move his piece. A wide smile took his face as he made his final move. "Check mate."

"Aw, dang it. I thought I would have you this time for sure." Gowland chuckled.

"I bet Julius would be good at this game." Alice said blankly.

"I wouldn't doubt it." The older boy agreed.

"Not likely." The black haired boy scoffed. "I've been playing since I was five." He said triumphantly. Although, Alice believed the boy to be about seven.

"Yeah, but I've been the only one to play with you. How do you know you are that good?" Gowland asked.

"Are you saying you are that bad?" his usual opponent smirked. Suddenly Gowland folded his arms over his chest.

"I NEVER said that." He muttered. "I just go easy on you, kid." The boy said, trying to sound much older than Gray than he actually was. "I am extremely intelligent and I just don't want to intimidate you with my mind."

"What?" Alice croaked, not knowing half of what Gowland just said.

"I doubt anybody could be intimidated by you!" Gray burst out laughing. Gowland pursed his lips in anger before standing.

"I'm gonna go play with Boris." He said before stomping off. Gray was still laughing up a storm. It didn't take too long for him to settle down. He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. After a moment of silence he glanced up at Alice.

"Wanna play chess?"

"No," she quickly replied. "But you should ask Julius. I'm sure he would like that."

"Fine." He sighed. "But can you watch Nightmare? I don't want him getting into any trouble while I am gone." He added, tossing a thumb into the direction of the smaller boy. Alice nodded and went to sit with the boy as Gray left.

"Hey there Nightmare."

"ALICE!" Nightmare squealed with joy, tossing his now empty juice box. "Lets-"

"Hey ya, Alice!" White interrupted from behind Alice, making her jump slightly. "Come play with me and Black."

"No! Alice is playing with me!" Nightmare cried, taking Alice's hand. "You can't have her."

"But I haven't gotten to play with Alice at all today. Pweeze?" he asked, poking out his lip as he tried giving a cute puppy face.

"NO!" Nightmare yelled again, pulling Alice closer. "Go away! I don't like you!"

"Would you give her to me for a juice box?" White asked, magically pulling out a box of apple juice out of nowhere. Nightmare paused and his eyes grew wide. After a moment of hesitation he spoke.

"N-no. Alice is way more important than any juice box."

"I didn't want to do this but…" Suddenly, there was a cookie. White had a cookie. "Alice for juice box AND cookie?" Nightmare froze, his eyes extremely wide as his eyes were locked onto the cookie. He licked his lips and looked at Alice and then the cookie and frowned.

"… bye Alice." the small boy said before swiping the juice and cookie away and running away. Before Alice knew it, White had taken her hand and was dragging her away from Nightmare.

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**Wow... I thought I could finish this story in 2 chapters but looks like it will drag out to 3. Anyway, I'm so sorry it took so long to get this up. Hope you like it. Please review~**


	3. Chapter 3

"I WANNA PLAY COPS AND ROBBERS!" The angry red headed boy screamed at his brother. His brother pursed his lips.

"Alice doesn't want to play cops and robbers." White pointed out, not even bothering to ask Alice if she actually did or not. "Especially not with you." He said snidely. The boy's clone instantly blew up.

"I DON'T CARE IF ALICE WANTS TO PLAY WITH ME!" The boy roared. "F***!" White gasped.

"Dad told you to never repeat that word!" the other boy shrieked. "I'M TELLING ON YOU!"

"Oh no you don't!" Black said, putting White in a headlock.

"What does f*** mean?" Alice asked, innocently. White's eyes widened.

"It's a bad word, Alice! Don't say it!" he yelled, trying to break free from his brother. Alice grimaced.

"A bad word?! Black said a bad word?! IS HE A BAD PERSON?!" she questioned.

"Yes," White answered. Black began giving his brother a knuckle-noogie.

"No I am not." He hissed.

"Ow ow ow! Stop!"

"Promise you won't tell mom or dad!"

"I promise! I promise! Let me go!" White whined. After being released the boy jumped behind Alice and blew a raspberry at Black.

"Soo…" the hot headed boy started. "Cops and robbers?"

"NO!" White yelled again. "I don't like playing cops and robbers! I am always the bad guy and you always get to put me in jail or shoot me!" he huffed out a sigh and took Alice's hand. "I will play with her myself. We will play-"

"No." Black interrupted, taking Alice's other hand and pulling. "She will play cops and robbers with me. You can-"

"Black! Let her go! SHE IS MINE!" White whined, pulling on Alice.

"OW! Stop pulling on me! I'm not a toy!"

"She isn't yours!" Black insisted, yanking right back. "She is mine because it was my cookie that you gave to Nightmare!"

"I'm gonna tell mom you won't let me have Alice!"

"Mom wouldn't let you have Alice in the first place! First, she is a girl and second, you are not responsible enough! You almost killed Goldie!" (Goldie is their goldfish)

"What is going on here?" Someone asked. Alice turned to find Blood with his hands on his hips. Elliot and the twins were right behind him.

"Tug of war isn't a good game to play with a girl," Elliot pointed out. "Especially when you're using them as the rope."

"Shut up Elliot." Blood grumbled. "What are you doing with the girl?" the boy asked again.

"None of your beeswax." Black grumbled, standing in front of Alice. "Get lost, Dupre."

"Oh, I'm so scared. You know my last name." Blood scoffed. "It's only scary when my mom says it!"

"Go play with Blondie over there." White said, stepping in front of Alice and pointing to Elliot. "Cause this girl is ours."

"Girls are not possessions," Elliot retorted. "They are human beings that are meant to be respected."

"Elliot! I told you to shut up!" the black haired boy yelled. He groaned before looking back at the red headed twins. "What do you plan to do with her then?" Blood asked.

"We WERE gonna play cops and robbers." Black huffed, folding his arms over his chest. "But now I would love to shove you into jail… or shoot you."

"You would love to play with me, wouldn't you?" Blood asked. "But I don't like playing with brats like you."

"I AM NOT A BRAT!" the red head roared. He had gotten angry yet again. Alice was getting tired of the argument when someone grabbed her arms and ran her in the opposite direction. Black and White did not notice her absence.

"Let me go!" Alice cried, not knowing who it was that had her.

"Aw, but we wanted to play with you." One of the young, seesaw twins said.

"Yeah," the other one added. "Everybody else has gotten to play with you except us."

"My name is Dee."

"And I am Dum!"

"How…" Alice paused. "How am I supposed to tell you two apart?" The twins glanced at each other and then looked at Alice.

"What do you mean by tell us apart? I'm Dee and that is Dum." He answered, pointing to himself and then his brother. He seemed slightly confused.

"W-well…"

"Dee always wears blue. Dum always wears red." Elliot said, coming up behind Alice. Alice looked at the blond and then back at the twins and blinked. Sure enough, one was wearing blue and the other was in red. "You're not hurt, right?"

"Huh?" Alice was slightly confused. Wasn't Elliot a bully?

"Well sometimes those two jokers can be rough. They must have been pulling on you quite hard." The blond boy answered.

"W-well I'm fine. Thanks for saving me though."

"We are the ones that saved you!" the twins cried.

"It was Blood's idea to-" Elliot began.

"Yes. I am the absolute mastermind behind this." Blood interrupted from behind Elliot. "You are now mine to control!"

"Blood, be nice to her." Elliot mumbled, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I said shut up, Elliot! Jeeze!" the shorter boy growled. "Get me a juice box, girl."

"Not a chance." Alice sneered. "Get your own juice."

"It is the job of the woman to do as the man says." Alice's eye twitched. "And-"

"Oh, brother," said a girl's voice. Alice quickly ducked behind the twins to hide from Vivaldi. "Is that really what you think?"

"Ack! Vivaldi, what are you doing here?! I'm too busy playing with my friends to play with you. Go away!" Blood yelled, waving his arms to try to shoo away his younger sister.

"Well I was going to go find mom to get a juice box but I found you bullying my new friend instead." The girl said, glaring at her brother.

"If she was your friend then she wouldn't be scared of you, now would she?" the dark haired boy shot back, pointing out Alice trying to hide behind the shorter twin boys.

"How do you know that she just isn't afraid of YOU?" Vivaldi asked. "It's your fault she is scared. I'm telling mom."

"NO! She is scared of you so I am telling mom on YOU." Blood grumbled, turning on his heel and running. Vivaldi was right behind him.

"Those two always seem to fight..." Elliot sighed under his breath.

"A-are they gone?" Alice asked, popping her head up from behind the twins.

"Yep!" Dee shouted.

"Let's go play a game!" Dum added, grabbing Alice's hand.

"Hold it you two." Elliot mumbled, grabbing their collars so they couldn't leave. "Blood was the one that wanted to play with her. Wouldn't he be mad if she was gone when he came back?"

"Well Blood can come find us when he is ready to go." Dee said, freeing himself from Elliot and pulling Alice away.

"I don't think he will like that…" Elliot mumbled to himself as he watched the twins drag Alice away.

"What do you want to do, brother?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?" Alice sighed as soon as they stopped dragging her. Why were so many people pushing and pulling her around so much today?

"Oh! I know!" Dee shouted.

"What, what, what?!" his brother asked, excited.

"Let's go on the tire swing!" Dee yelled. Alice instantly gulped.

"T-the tire swing?"

"Yeah!" Dum said. "It should be fun with three people. With only two it gets all wobbly and it isn't as fun."

"Why doesn't anybody ask me what I want to do?!" Alice yelled, putting her foot down.

"Well… What do you want to do?" The twins echoed.

"Uh…" Alice thought for a second but in her moment of hesitation the twins took her arms and started pulling her to the tire swing.

"Boris! Hey Boris! Let's try the tire swing!"

"Oh?" asked a voice that was nowhere in sight. Dee looked up and smiled at the pink haired boy who was sitting on the pole that the tire was attached to. "Oh! It's… um… What did Gowland say her name was? Alice?"

"M-my name is Alice," she nodded.

"I'm Boris." The kid said, smiling. He started swinging his legs into the air as he sat on the pole. The twins pushed Alice closer to the daunting tire.

"Come on, Alice." one of the young boys begged.

"Please, please, please."

"If you don't like it I promise to stop the tire for you." Boris said, jumping down and landing next to Alice. He smiled sweetly.

"R-really?" Alice asked. Boris nodded before helping the girl onto the tire. The twins quickly jumped up as Boris took the chains in his hands. The twins couldn't help but laugh.

"I can't believe Alice fell for it!" Dee laughed.

"Yeah, Boris would never stop the tire for anybody!" Dum added. Before Alice could do anything, however, Boris had spun the tire. Alice quickly shut her eyes to block out the spinning world around her. For a moment the blond girl thought she would be sick.

That moment passed. The twins were yelling out in excitement and laughing. Alice determined that it wasn't that bad. She opened one eye and found they weren't spinning that fast and, if anything, it was actually fun. Alice couldn't help but laugh at herself for thinking otherwise. And laugh about how fun it actually was. Eventually it began to slow and came to a stop. Giggles escaped from the three, now dizzy, children as they stumbled off the tire. Alice staggered away, swaying like a drunk, before she fell over. She grabbed her sides which were now hurting. Although her world was spinning, a dark figure hunched over her.

"What didja think?" Boris asked, leaning over her. A great grin was plastered on his face.

"That was- that was great!" she gasped. She was trying to get air into her lungs. "H-how did Pierce NOT like that?"

"Cause he is weird?" Boris shrugged. "How should I know? He seems to be afraid of, like, everything."

"Boris! That is so much better with 3 people!" Dee laughed. He was sitting on the ground.

"Especially with Alice~" Dum added, attempting to stand. The boy, however, only fell over again. Boris burst out laughing and pointing at the stumbling younger kid. Eventually, the laughing died down.

"Aw, now I want a go." The pink haired kid said, sadly.

"I'm not strong enough." Alice pointed out.

"We aren't either…" Dum mumbled.

"I wonder where Gowland is." The pink haired boy asked, jumping onto the tire to look. Gowland, however, was not where he normally was. Boris continued looking until he found the older boy buying a snow cone. "Oh my God! SNOW CONES!" the boy yelled before tripping over his own two feet and falling on his face into the sand. He jumped right back up and darted for the frozen treats.

"Oh! I want a snow cone!" Alice shouted, getting up too quickly. At first she stumbled but was finally able to regain her balance and ran in the direction that Boris did. She stopped, however, when she came to a grassy area under a tree. Several kids were gathered there eating their snow cone. Nightmare sat in the middle, his face covered in ice and a half eaten purple snow cone in his hand. Gray was sitting nearby with a blue snow cone. Julius also had a blue snow cone, but he was sitting farther away from the group. He tried to separate himself from the group but Ace sat as close to him as he would allow. Black and White had actually climbed the tree to eat their icy treats.

Gowland was sprawled out, lying on the ground. He would lift his head every so often just to take a bite of his snow cone. Suddenly Boris yelled "Bonzai!" and jumped right on top of Gowland's stomach.

"Ack! You stupid head! Look what you did!" Gowland yelled, pointing out the now spilled orange snow cone.

"Your fault for playing with your food. You shoulda just ate it!" Boris laughed before jumping up and running away from Gowland to move to the other tree.

Under the other tree were Blood, Elliot, Boris, and Vivaldi. The twins also got snow cones and sat down with the group.

"Why does your sister have to be over here?" Elliot whispered, pointing out the girl. Vivaldi scared Elliot sometimes. He took a bite of his orange ice.

"Why do you always get orange snow cones?" Blood asked, taking a bite of his own green one. "What flavor is it, like, carrot?"

"It is not carrot! I hate carrots!" The blond boy grumbled.

Alice blinked and looked at everybody who was there. Where was Pierce and Peter? Alice glanced and found Pierce sitting on the other side of Blood's tree. Peter, however, was still sitting on his lonely bench. Alice frowned and could only feel sorry for him… but she did not go sit with him. She wanted a snow cone.

"Lorina," Alice began.

"Oh, Alice. Ready to go?" Lorina asked, closing her book.

"G-go?" the small girl wondered.

"Well, yeah. It's almost time to leave." The older girl said, standing up.

"But I…" Alice muttered, looking back. Although Lorina thought she was looking at the snow cone booth, the girl was actually looking at her new friends.

"Oh, you want a snow cone?" Her sister asked, grabbing her purse and pulling out a dollar.

"Can we come back tomorrow?" Alice's question caught Lorina off guard but after a moment of surprise the older sister smiled.

"Of course we can."

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**The end~ What did you think? Please review!**

**And... here are the ages of everybody, or at least how I pictured them.**

**Ages 4: Nightmare, Pierce, Vivaldi, Dee and Dum**

**Ages 5: Alice, Blood, Boris**

**Ages 6: Black and White, Peter**

**Ages 7: Ace, Julius, Gray, Elliot**

**Age 8: Gowland**

**Lorina is 16.**

**And do not think this is over now. Do you really think this is the end?**


	4. Julius 1

**Well, I didn't want to start a new day so I came up with the idea of a route. This is only the beginning of Julius' route and things that happen in Julius' route will not necessarily happen in other routes because that would get kinda boring. I mean Gray and Nightmare are always together so the only thing different between the two would be the end so... Please enjoy~**

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The thought of being a bully made Julius smile as he played his Gameboy. Elliot could sometimes be idiotic but this was ridiculous. And the fact that Alice was his wife could only make him smile wider. If he wasn't picked on for playing his Gameboy, it was his hair. It was pulled back into a ponytail and was longer than all the other boys'. They called him a sissy boy. Julius pursed his lips at the memory… But now he wouldn't be a sissy boy. No. He has a wife. But then he remembered it was only play and pretend. It's not like it really mattered to him though. He was an only child and was used to being alone. Which is why he holed himself away in the tower of the slide. It was probably better that she left anyway. His game is more important than any girl, right?

"Hey ya, Julius!" shouted the loud and obnoxious Ace. His sudden appearance made the black haired boy jump and nearly drop his game.

"Ace, you stupid dummy head. What do you want?" the boy growled.

"I just wanted to know if you have met the new girl." The boy shrugged before pulling himself fully into the slide's tower.

"Alice?" Julius asked, pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

"Her name is Alice? Well, I guess not everything about her can be perfect." The brunet laughed.

"What do you mean?! Alice is a perfect name!" the older boy retorted.

"Maybe if you like good girls. Alice seems like a goody-two-shoes name." Ace said, scratching the back of his head.

"To you, Alice is probably a goody-two-shoes."

"I can change that." The young boy said, smiling wickedly. Julius only grimaced. Ace laughed at the face the other boy made. Julius sighed heavily.

"Where is Alice anyway?"

"Oh, having tea with Vivaldi." The boy uttered, throwing his thumb in the general direction of the jungle gym." I was able to practice my knots~"

"YOU TIED HER TO THE JUNGLE GYM?!" Julius roared in distaste. Ace shrank back.

"What's wrong with you? You never get this mad about anything." Ace asked as Julius looked out to find Alice free from the ropes. He sighed in relief to find her unharmed. He nearly snickered when he saw Nightmare fall to the ground and curl up into a ball. "Do you like her?"

"N-no!" Julius said quickly and spinning around to look at Ace. Ace did not believe him, though, because of how quick he was to deny it. A smile graced the boy's lips.

"You like Alice~" he chimed.

"No I don't!" Julius growled. "Stop it!"

"You're blushing~" Ace laughed, pointing out that Julius did indeed have red cheeks.

"I-… Go away Ace! I don't like you!"

"Oh, Julius, your secret is safe with me~" the brunet sang. "But I want to be your best man at your wedding."

"Whoever said we are getting married?!" the black haired boy asked.

"Me. Now…" The boy mumbled, looking out at the playground. "How will we get her to say yes?"

"S-say yes to what?" Julius questioned hesitantly.

"To marry you, silly!" Ace called out, quickly sliding down the slide.

"You are a complete stupid head." The other boy mumbled down the slide. Soon, Ace's head popped back up the ladder.

"Aren't you coming?"

"What for?"

"To figure out what Alice likes of course!" the boy laughed.

"I-… No. That's stupid. Why would I do that?" Julius asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's stupid."

"Fine. If you don't want to then I guess I will just-" the boy shrugged and started down the ladder.

"Wait!" the black haired boy called out, pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose and jumping after the boy. As Julius climbed down, a large smile was plastered on Ace's face.

Julius pursed his lips as the sand found its way into his shoes. Another reason to stay up in the somewhat clean slide that towered over the annoying sand. The boy shielded his eyes from the bright sun, yet another reason.

"Now what?" He griped, glaring at Ace.

"Well…" Ace started, looking around the playground. He was able to find Alice attempting to help Gowland get Pierce onto his back. "Let's start by talking to Vivaldi. She was able to talk to her."

"I don't want to talk to Vivaldi. She is so troublesome," Julius moaned. Ace, however, would have none of it and began to drag Julius to the jungle gym.

"Where have you been, Ace? Miss Cookie got away!" the small girl pouted.

"Her name is ALICE." the dark haired boy growled, his eye twitching in irritation. Miss Cookie is a stupid name.

"What is HE doing here? Make him go away, Ace. I'm afraid to catch his weird."

"Well I don't want to catch your stupid." Julius shot back.

"Hey, hey! Let's not fight, okay?" Ace asked, glancing at the two. "We just want you to tell us about Alice, my queen."

"Nothing to tell. She was stupid and mean." The girl said plainly. Julius clenched one of his fists.

"She is not stupid. She is very smart and very nice." He mumbled through his teeth.

"Get him away from me!" Vivaldi hissed. "He is stupid and wrong!"

"Okay, okay! Come on, Julius. Maybe Blood knows Alice." Ace suggested, leading Julius away from the angry girl.

"Blood is even worse! Can I just go back to the slide? Please?" the dark haired boy begged. Pierce started to run past the two.

"How about we talk to the ginger!" Ace yelled before tackling the young boy who started freaking out.

"L-let me go! I d-didn't do anything wrong! Let me go!" Pierce cried.

"Hey! Calm down! We just want to know what you know about Alice." As soon as Ace said her name, the boy instantly calmed down.

"Alice?" He asked as soon as Ace let him go. He sat up in the sand. Julius nodded. "Alice is an angel."

"An… Angel?" the two other boys questioned simultaneously.

"Yes! She is my guardian angel! Sh-she saved me from Boris and Gowland and she made sure I wasn't sick! She is so kind and nice and beautiful. She must be an angel." he squeaked.

"An angel you say?" Ace asked. "Gosh, she really must be a goody-two-shoes." He folded his arms over his chest and huffed out a sigh.

"I… I doubt she is an angel." Julius said. "She has flaws."

"That's not nice, Julius!" Pierce gasped.

"Yeah, Julius. Even that seems a little harsh from you."

"Nobody is flawless except angels." He explained. "Even you, Ace."

"I am a flawless, sexy beast." The brunet said, his nose shooting up into the air. "Well… whatever sexy means it must be good, right?"

"Shut up, Ace." Julius sighed. "You shouldn't say words that you don't know the meaning of."

"Oh, hey! Wait a minute!" Ace yelled, suddenly having an idea. "Alice wouldn't come here alone, right?"

"Right," Julius muttered, warily. What was Ace getting at?

"Well, why don't we talk to the one she came here with? They will obviously know more about Alice! More than anybody on this playground!"

"B-b-but that would be talking to strangers!" Pierce butted in.

"Yeah, but at one point everybody is a stranger. How are you supposed to make friends if you can't talk to strangers when everybody is one?"

"That is…" Julius started, staring blankly at Ace. "That is a good point. When did you ever learn to think like that?"

"D-don't do it, Julius! Stranger danger!" Pierce cried. "Stranger danger!"

"Pierce, you're a big baby. Go play someplace else." Ace ordered, glaring at the small boy. The red head shrank down.

"O-okay…" Pierce muttered. "J-just don't hurt me!"

"I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL!" Ace grumbled loudly. Pierce nearly wet his pants.

"NO! I need my soul! I don't want to die!" the boy whimpered. "Wah!"

"Ace, stop picking on Pierce and lets go." Julius sighed, grabbing his colleagues collar.

"Aw, why can't I have some fun with the little ginger?" Ace asked after they were some feet away from the small, panicking boy.

"Because if he wets his pants he would die of embarrassment and you would have to go to his funeral."

"Eug, I hate funerals. So boring and sad."

"Exactly. Now shut up." The dark haired boy muttered. Ace began to hum while Julius looked around the park.

"Well," Julius mumbled, spotting a blond teen reading under a tree. "I think-"

"Hey Julius!" Gray interrupted.

"What?" Julius moaned.

"Play me in chess."

"Oh, oh! I play chess!" Ace called out. "I-"

"Ace, you don't even know how a knight moves." Julius pointed out.

"Yeah I do! They move in an 'L' shape cause they always get lost!" the excited boy answered. "I wanna play! I wanna play!"

"Okay, I can beat Ace and then Julius." Gray smiled.

"You think you can beat me?" The long haired boy asked, raising an eyebrow and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Of course," Gray said proudly. "I have been playing since I was very little. Alice thinks you would be good at chess too."

"What?" he croaked.

"Yeah. I guess she thinks you are that smart." The other boy laughed. "Guess she hasn't known you long enough." Julius clenched his fists.

"Take that back!" the brunet boy yelled. "Julius is very smart! He will show you! He will wipe the board with you!"

"You're going down first." The chess 'master' said smugly, pointing at Ace.

"You're on!"

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**Thank you for reading. Please review your thoughts~**


	5. Gray 1

**Happy Birthday to me~ Here is my present to you~**

* * *

If Gray could, he would put Nightmare Gottschalk in a giant, indestructible bubble. The kid seemed to be accident prone. Or perhaps his little cousin just had rotten luck. His parents, unfortunately, died when he was very young. Gray was only four at the time making the mischievous little Nightmare to be one year of age. The older boy could not remember much from the funeral. He remembers having to dress up and Nightmare was crying. His mother left the room to try to stop the baby from crying leaving Gray alone in a place where he was uncomfortable and surrounded by mourning people that he did not know.

Growing up with Nightmare, however, was not that bad. Gray was like… well, Julius. He removed himself from everybody else, but when Nightmare came in he opened up, although, that was due to the fact that Nightmare wouldn't let Gray have privacy. Nightmare spent plenty of time with Gray. He looked up to him. Until… he was diagnosed with ADHD. Everything changed once again then. With the boy being hyper, it caused problems. He would constantly trip and fall, leading to Nightmares next stroke of bad luck. He was diagnosed with a clotting disorder. The boy would bleed very easily and, if left untreated, would bleed nonstop. That is where Gray came in.

It was tiring, though, to chase the hyper boy. Especially when a new thing would always peak his interest. He couldn't stay still. Gray found himself many times a day wheezing for air as Nightmare darted away. Again, Gray only wished for a giant, indestructible bubble.

Today had been no different. Gray had to stop and breath as Nightmare darted away. He couldn't understand how Nightmare could have so much energy.

"NO! Let me go!" he heard an unfamiliar voice yell. He looked around and found that it was only Blood and some girl. Gray shook his head and looked from the girl and back to Nightmare who was trying to run up the slide. Something inside him, however, wouldn't let him just leave the girl. He sighed and quickly darted over to the group.

"What is going on here?" he asked. Elliot was holding the girl down while Blood just stood over her. Elliot, upon seeing the other boy, jumped back and let the blond girl go. She jumped up and hid behind Gray.

"We got the cat poo-" Dee and Dum began to say.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves." He scolded, looking at the others faces. Elliot and the twins frowned and looked to the ground where Blood was very adamant. "Being mean to—"

"Gray!" Nightmare called out, causing Gray to instantly spin around. Nightmare wasn't on the slide anymore. "Gray, help!" he called out again. Gray darted away to find Nightmare. He couldn't help but feel slightly responsible for Nightmare getting hurt. When he got there, the younger boy was holding his knee.

**I don't really want to repeat myself. It will be pretty much the exact same stuff that happened in the original. Same conversation and everything. Sorry for skipping but I don't want to be a total bore.**

"Who was that?" Nightmare asked, walking backwards while staring at Gray.

"A new girl," he answered. Nightmare pursed his lips.

"Of course she is new! I have never seen her around here before!" the kid yelled, throwing his arms up into the air.

"Stop walking backwards. If you fall on your butt I will laugh." Gray said blankly. But, as he figured, Nightmare quickly turned around. He did not like to be laughed at. He just then noticed they were walking by the monkey bars and he quickly took the opportunity to try. Unfortunately, his upper body strength was poor and he was unable to carry himself over half way and fell to the ground. White, who was standing on top of the bars, laughed at Nightmare.

"Stop laughing at me!" Nightmare ordered. He glared at the red head.

"How about you stop being pathetic?" he chuckled.

"White," Gray mumbled as a warning.

"Well if it ain't your guard dog!" he laughed, pointing at Gray. The older, dark haired kid's eyebrows furrowed in anger.

"White." Gray said dryly.

"Perhaps he is Nightie's knight in shining armor." Black said bitterly as he walked up to the trio. He then jumped up to the metal bars and was easily able to pull himself up with his brother.

"Haha! Good one, Black!"

"Shut up, White." The mean twin grumbled.

"Hey! Why don't you come down here and say that?" Gray's cousin growled.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Black said snidely.

"I have a better idea. How about you come up here?" White asked.

"Well I-"

"Who is that?" Black asked, looking at the new girl who was over by the jungle gym.

"None of your business." Gray muttered. "Come on, Nightmare. Let's get away from these twin troublemakers." Gray quickly took Nightmare's arm and pulled him away.

"I coulda took em!" Nightmare protested.

"I'm sure you could have…" Gray said sarcastically. "But how about we don't test that."

"So…" Nightmare sighed. He pulled out of Gray's grasp. "Who is the new girl?"

"Her name is Alice."

"What else do you know about her?" the young boy asked excitedly. "Is she nice?"

"I-I don't know. I just met her."

"But I want to know!" Nightmare whined. He turned around to go back but Gray held him back.

"Don't go back there." He ordered.

"But I-"

"Nightmare, you can meet her later, okay?"

"YAY!" he paused. "How much later?" The black haired child slammed his palm against his forehead.

"Just _later_, okay?"

"Okay, okay. You don't need to get so touchy about it." The young boy mumbled, folding his arms over his chest. Gray sighed slightly.

"Look, Nightmare-"

"HEY! What's that?!" The boy yelled running off.

"Hey! I was trying to talk to you!"

~x~x~x~

"Nightmare, mom has told you many times to not chase Mrs. Airay's cats." Gray scolded the young boy.

"But her cats are always so cute." Nightmare whined. "And they are so soft."

"I know they are but you can't be near them." The older boy moaned. "You could sneeze so much your brain falls out your nose." The little boy gasped.

"My brains can fall out my nose?!" he asked, his hands shooting up to his nose to keep his brain in.

"Well duh. Why else do you think people put their finger under someone's nose when they are about to sneeze?" Gray questioned. "It's to hold their brains in."

"I DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY BRAIN!" Nightmare cried. "I don't want to be stupid!"

"Wait, you can get stupider?" asked someone, snidely.

"That's not nice Blood!" Nightmare fumed, glaring at the other boy.

"I don't care what you think is nice," he responded.

"Hi Gray." Elliot said, joining the group.

"Hey Elliot." The other boy sighed. "Can you put a leash on Blood? He seems to have-"

"Shut up, Gray!" Blood hissed.

"Oh, oh! Hey guys!" Nightmare yelled out of nowhere. "Guys, do you know where the new girl is? Cause its later."

"Uh, yeah." Elliot answered. "She is with Julius at the slide."

"SLIDE!" the youngest boy yelled, running in the direction of the slide. Gray rested his forehead in his palms.

"You just had to tell him…" Gray moaned before turning on his heel and chasing after his young cousin.

* * *

**Thank you for reading~ Please review~**


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